Hate Groups In NJ: Map Shows Rising Total Of Racist Organizations

A new interactive map shows there are 18 hate groups operating in communities throughout New Jersey. The hate from the violent white nationalist gathering that resulted in the death of an anti-racism protester in Charlottesville, Va. can be found anywhere, the Southern Poverty Law Center says.

The Southern Poverty Law Center released its new map this week, an updated version that allows users to see more details, including which states have the most hate groups per capita and how the number of hate groups has changed over time at the state and national level.

And in New Jersey, 18 hate groups — from white supremacists to anti-Muslim and black separatist organizations — are active. That's an increase over what the SPLC published in 2017, when the organization said there were 15 groups in the Garden State.

The group identified 1,020 active hate groups operating in the country last year, a record high and a 30 percent increase over the last four years. Moreover, an estimated 40 people were killed in North America in radical right terrorist attacks last year and there were more than 1,200 incidents of hate groups passing out flyers.

Here are the hate groups operating out of New Jersey and the towns where they're based:

The group has listed the Nation of Islam, it says, for these reasons:

"Since its founding in 1930, the Nation of Islam (NOI) has grown into one of the wealthiest and best-known organizations in black America, offering numerous programs and events designed to uplift African Americans. Nonetheless, its bizarre theology of innate black superiority over whites — a belief system vehemently and consistently rejected by mainstream Muslims — and the deeply racist, anti-Semitic and anti-gay rhetoric of its leaders, including top minister Louis Farrakhan, have earned the NOI a prominent position in the ranks of organized hate."

New Jersey is no stranger to hateful acts. State police identified 417 bias incident offenses for 2016, a 14 percent increase over 2015.

Harassment accounted for 45 percent, or 186, of all bias incident offenses in New Jersey. Criminal mischief and damage to property accounted for 34 percent, or 143 of all bias incident offenses.

Racial bias accounted for 41 percent, or 171, of all bias incident crimes in 2016. The target category of "person" accounted for 60 percent, or 249, of all bias offenses. The black race represented the most frequent racial group victimized by bias crime, accounting for 30 percent, or 127, of all bias offenses.

Heidi Beirich, director of the Intelligence Project, which publishes the award-winning Intelligence Report and the Hatewatch blog, said in a release it’s become “critically important” that people understand what she called “the landscape of hate.” The number of these groups is surging in the era of President Donald Trump, who has faced fierce criticism for his anti-immigrant rhetoric.

“We hope the new, interactive map helps people recognize and better understand the extremist activity occurring in their communities and how it’s part of a larger movement,” said Beirich.

The map allows users to filter by ideologies tracked by the organization. Some of the categories include anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT, anti-muslim, holocaust denial, Ku Klux Klan, male supremacy, Neo-Nazi, racist skinhead and white nationalist.

The map shows that states with the most hate groups per capita tend to be concentrated in the Southeast, northern Rocky Mountain regions and western Great Plains. This includes Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas, as well as Idaho and Montana.

Meanwhile, several states in the Midwest saw the least number of hate groups per capita. Among these states were Kansas, Iowa and Wyoming.

In a video accompanying the report, the group says there were roughly 375 hate groups nationwide in 1999. That number has ballooned over the years to more than 1,000 this year. Beirich called the rise “disturbing” and said it’s no coincidence the rise coincides with Trump’s election.

“The trend is unmistakable,” she said in the video. “Trump has energized the radical right by fanning the flames of racial resentment over immigration and the country’s changing demographics.”

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.